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Charity-corporate partnerships need to shift to focus on social impact, says new report

Apr 4th 2018

Honesty, creativity and more understanding and equal relationships will help charity-corporate partnerships shift to deliver more impact for everyone, says a new report from charity think-tank NPC.

Building More Impactful Corporate-Charity Partnerships takes a forensic look at the challenges faced by charities and corporates as they work together and offers advice on how they can think and act differently to overcome them and deliver mutually beneficial outcomes that affect more lives.

Based on its ‘Charities Taking Charge’ research that revealed 41% of charities surveyed expect to be partnering more with private sector organisations over the next three years, it says: “There is an appetite for charities and corporates to work together more. But there are also many things that need to be improved in current partnerships.

The research found examples of good practice, many frustrations with the current practice, but most importantly a desire to improve the current state of partnerships.

“Both corporates and charities feel there are benefits to be had if they can rise to the challenges set out in this report,” it says.

The research finds that charities and corporates want to move away from a transactional relationship and to do that they should put social impact at the heart of working, overcoming a ‘mismatch of motivations’ that currently sees corporates in search of good PR and charities in pursuit of resources.

This requires openness and honesty, investing time in understanding how each other operates and establishing a clear goal. Corporates also need to involve more than their CSR teams and considering how they can work with charities across their business—how charities can help them work with different groups of people, develop products and services.

The report says: ““This courage and creativity, openness and honesty, could build more effective partnerships, and enable charities to take advantage of all that the private sector has to offer—from its resources, to its employees, its skills and its capacities. The private sector could then also access the different capabilities of the voluntary sector, including access to different experiences, knowledge of different groups of people, and the ability to make lasting change in our society.”

The report is the result of a literature review, two round-table events held with charities and with corporates, and interviews with charities and corporates about their partnerships—the latter of which feature as case studies throughout.

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City Philanthropy – A Wealth of Opportunity is a three-year project funded by the City of London Corporation's charity City Bridge Trust. It aims to promote more effective philanthropy among City professionals earlier in their careers and position the City of London as a leading global centre for philanthropy. To find out more click here